


Just a Few Important Notes

by Kintsu



Category: Love Live! Sunshine!!
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-26
Updated: 2017-12-26
Packaged: 2019-02-21 21:02:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,376
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13151991
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kintsu/pseuds/Kintsu
Summary: When Chika had texted Riko asking if she had wanted to come over and study, Riko had expected it to go somewhat along the lines of her doujins. The last thing she had expected was a panicked Chika attempting to cram before finals started.





	Just a Few Important Notes

“I’m too dumb for this.”

Riko looked up at the aforementioned “too dumb” girl who sat across from her. Chika had stopped staring at Riko’s meticulous notes and had laid her had on the table with a light thud.

“Chika, you are not too dumb for this. Your grades aren’t the best, but you shouldn’t have any trouble passing the finals.”

Chika groaned in response.

Riko sighed, when her girlfriend had texted asking her to come over and “study”, Riko had been expecting something more out of her doujins. Instead she had been greeted with a panicking Chika who had promptly declared that if Riko didn’t help her, Chika was destined to flunk out of high school and become a janitor for the inn. Worse, she wouldn’t be able to move to year three with Riko and You.

“How do you usually study?” Riko asked, hoping to glean some insight into how she could best help her girlfriend. Riko had seen You’s grades, they were barely above Chika’s. Kanan wasn’t much better, even as an upper classman; her long leave of absence had left her taking makeup classes.

“Usually I cram everything the night before, and if I don’t know the answer on the test I just guess,” Chika replied. She was still face down on table.

So Chika was like every other high school slacker, Riko thought to herself. Still she was slightly impressed. For someone who barely paid attention in class and didn’t take notes, Chika did better than expected on her past tests. But better than expected was barely passing.

Riko laid down her pencil and scooted out from under the table. Her right leg had fallen asleep. Carefully she walked around the table and sat down next to Chika. As she began to talk, she shook her leg, hoping to get some feeling back.

“Have you ever thought about actually taking notes and studying throughout the year?” Her leg wasn’t getting any better, Riko pulled it in closer and started to slap it gently. “I’m pretty sure if you actually tried you would get decent grades! You’re the type of person who can do anything if you put your mind to it.”

“I do take notes,” Chika grumbles. “They aren’t very good though.”

Surprised at this, Riko leaned forward to pick up Chika’s notebook. Maybe if she took a look at it she could see how much material Chika had retained. Before she could flip open the notebook, Chika suddenly sprung to life. Head snapping upright, Chika grabbed the notebook and chucked it out the door of her room. Riko heard a thwap and an “ow” from someone in the hallway.

“Chika! What the hell!?” Riko yelped in shock. Chika stared back, her cheeks beginning to turn red. She opened her mouth to say something, but was interrupted by the notebook hurtling back and hitting her in the back of the head.

“STOP THROWING YOUR STUFF!” As Chika clutched her head and collapsed, Riko looked up into the angry eyes of Chika’s older sister. After stumbling through an apology, Riko picked up the offending object. Chika’s sister turned and left the room.

Chika groaned on the floor next to Riko. Riko ignored her and started to flip through the notebook. She could almost understand why Chika had thrown it, frankly it was almost unreadable. Words were misspelled and Chika occasionally switched writing systems completely. Before she could comment, Chika spoke up.

“That’s why it’s useless for me to take notes. I’m terrible.”

Riko looked down. Chika had stopped rolling around in pain and had settled on laying on her back, staring up at the ceiling.

“My notes don’t make any sense, they never have. Why should I bother trying when I can’t do it. It’s the same with studying. It takes forever for me to get through anything. I’m really stupid, I should just give up.” Chika’s voice was gentle, but there was a little bit of a quiver.

Riko had heard Chika talk like this before, she knew that she had some self confidence issues. But Riko had never heard Chika this adamant about something. A simple question of “Giving up?” didn’t seem like it would be enough to push Chika into trying. This was something ingrained a lot deeper. So instead Riko asked a different question.

“Did someone tell you that?”

“A lot of people actually.”

Riko looked away from her girlfriend, but Chika continued.

“My teachers tried to help me, but I never got any better at it.”

For a moment Riko could picture a small Chika trying hard to study, getting the same results over and over. Inwardly Riko curse the teachers who would dare call a small child like Chika dumb; a gentle girl who wore her heart on her sleeve. As noisy and goofy as Chika got, Riko knew just how fragile she was, and how good she was at pretending to be okay. Outwardly, what Riko said this:

“You’re not too dumb. When you put your mind to it, you can do anything. You’re observant, and you always know what to say.”

When Chika didn’t reply, Riko continued.

“Your notes are a bit hard to read, but the material is correct for the most part.” Riko paused and picked up one of Chika’s tests.

“On this literature test? The ideas are all there. It’s not like you don’t know anything, these marks off are for spelling and grammar.” Riko put down that one and picked up another one.

“And this one? Well – actually, these are legitimately wrong.”

At this Chika laughed, and flipped over onto her side, facing Riko. “

What I’m trying to say is maybe it’s not because your dumb. You understand things really well when people explain them to you.”

“Thanks, Riko,” Chika stretched and sat up. “Even if it isn’t true, I feel a bit better.”

Riko slammed down the papers on the table, Chika froze. Riko grabbed her cheeks and stared directly into her eyes.

“It is true.”

Chika blinked.

“You aren’t dumb. You always tell me not to say I’m boring, if I don’t get to say that, they you don’t get to call yourself dumb all the time.”

Chika blinked again. Riko let go of her face and sat down. Realizing what she’d just done, Riko buried her face in her hands. She could feel the heat rising in her face through her palms.

Chika wrapped her arms around Riko from the back. Softly, she whispered in Riko’s red ears.

“Okay, I promise I won’t say stuff like that anymore. How about we start over?”

Riko nodded and withdrew her face from her hands.

“Anyway, what I was going to say before I went and did something embarrassing, is maybe you’re dyslexic.”

“Eh?”

* * *

 

A few hours of studying, one of making out, and one dinner later, Riko stood at the entrance of the Inn. Chika leaned up against the doorframe.

“Riko, thanks for agreeing to help me. I know I can be d… a pain.” Chika caught herself. “I promise I’ll look into what you said I might be.”

“You really don’t need to thank me, it was fun spending time with you. I really think you made some good progress. We can study again during the rest of the week,” Riko replied.

“That… would be nice.” Chika smiled, “Maybe this time I’ll get better grades than You! I can rub it in her face!”

Riko chuckled, “It’s a possibility, actually.” Stepping backwards, Riko began to turn and walk towards her house. She got about five feet when something slammed into her from behind.

“Wait!”

Chika had sprinted after her and hugged her.

“I forgot to really thank you.”

Riko spun around and was greeted with a hand to her chin. Chika pulled her face up and gave her a light gentle kiss.

“Maybe if I get more answers correct tomorrow, you can kiss me back.”

Riko had to say, that seemed like a pretty good idea to her.

“See? With ideas like that, I don’t know how anyone could think you’re dumb.”

At that, Chika giggled gently and pulled Riko in closer.

“Who cares about anyone else,” She said. “If you thought it was smart, then I’m satisfied.”

**Author's Note:**

> Well, this is the first thing I've ever written. Fanfic, or otherwise, I have never written anything creative beyond a few sentences. Uh, shoutout to sunshine and this ship for actually getting me to do this. 
> 
> Chika not actually being that dumb, just not really applying herself was something I came up with early on in my characterization of her. It was originally to distinguish her from Honoka, but as the anime went on and show just how intuitive and observant she was, it quickly became more than that. Chika being dyslexic was also something that I though about early on. There are too many official art scans, and in the anime, of Chika mixing up letters or parts of kanji. I did do some research and even read some academic papers to make sure that was how dyslexia in Japanese presented itself.
> 
> Anyway, that was long. Chika is good, Riko is a supportive and passionate girlfriend. They're both going to do fine.


End file.
